“A true hunting breed” – Part 1

“A true hunting breed” – Part 1

The hunting and working instinct of the Catahoula are really one and the same. It can be difficult to explain how a breed can be both a hunting dog and a cattle dog, but I will do my best to clarify this. A Catahoula is not a “herding” breed. When they are working cattle, they are using their prey drive. With a true herding breed, such as the Collie, they “stalk”, (still a part of the prey drive) but their natural predatory aggression has been inhibited through selective breeding so they no longer have the desire to pounce, grab and kill that all canine descendants once had. Many hunting breeds still have a high predatory aggression. Although in a sense this is not “aggression” at all, in compared with Social/Dominance Aggression or Fear Aggression. Predatory aggression is a natural survival-related behavior. It is not vicious, malicious or vindictive nor is it preceded by a mood change or threatening gestures, as when we think of other types of aggression. Therefore it is more appropriately referred to as predatory drive or prey drive. Catahoulas have an intense hunting instinct. I’ll explain further how this prey drive associates with the Catahoulas working drive: